(Sheykh Efendi starts by talking about the beginning of the Seljuk Empire. It was in the year 1055 A.D. Baghdad was run by the Shia Buwayhid dynasty and the Abbasi Khalifah al-Qaim was confined in his palace. Togrul Bey with all the Seljuks under his command wanted to present himself at the service of the Khalifah. But he knew that the Shias would not allow them to enter the city. So Togrul Bey said to them that they are on their way to Hajj and they want to meet the Khalifah for blessings because he is the descendent of the Holy Prophet (sws). When permission was granted, Togrul Bey entered the city with some men while placing the rest of the Seljuks in key positions along the way if the need to fight arose. Sheykh Efendi says, when Togrul Bey came into the presence of the Khalifah, he started trembling like a leaf and he knew right away that this is the true successor of the Holy Prophet (sws), and he is the one to be obeyed and served.)

Sheykh Efendi continued: Togrul Bey said (about that event), `A voice was speaking to me, saying to me, `He is the grandson of the Prophet (sws). If you don’t help him, the Sunnat of the Prophet (sws) is going to disappear. If you help him, you and all your generations until Judgment Day will be protected’. Then he decided and he said to the Khalifah, `From now on, I am not a King. I am your soldier. My kingdom is under your authority. You give me order and I will carry it.’ And the Khalifah was very smart. He said to him, `You are the King of your people. You are still a King. I am also making you the head of the Islamic Army. Do whatever it takes.’

So then, he gave ultimatum to the Iranians and the Shias. Anyone standing up, he was crushing them down. He reached all the way. That’s why the Seljuks are very important in history. If there were no Seljuks, today’s Islam will disappear definitely. You will not hear one word about the Prophet (sws). They would destroy everything. That’s what they were doing.

So later, when they were becoming very strong and they were crushing down the Shias, that is the time that the Shias made treaty with the Crusaders. And that is the time that the Crusaders started coming down. It’s because the plan was, the West would be coming down from up and the Iranians and the Egyptians from behind to crush down the Sunnat people again. But he was smart enough to put enough people everywhere and just concentrating on the West. They came 500,000 soldiers. Alp Arslan wore all white and he made Khutba to his soldiers. His soldiers were 50,000. He was saying to them, `Today is the day of wedding. That’s why we’re all wearing white. With our lives we are going to stop the Crusaders. We are going to open another history book to the world.’

And that’s what happened. In eight hours time, fifty thousand soldiers crushed down five hundred thousand crusaders. They cut 300,000. Allahu Akbar! The rest left. And they turned around and they started crushing down heavily the Iranians again and the other ones (Egyptian Fatimid Shiites). It’s because they found out who were rising and doing all these things. And after that continuously coming the Byzantines, these and the other ones.

And then the Mongols started coming from the East. So the Seljuks were becoming very, very weak then when the Mongols were coming. And the Seljuk King decided, saying, `My aim was to conquer Istanbul but it’s not going to be for us. Now I see that the Osmanoglu, the Ottomans are rising and I am sending all my power, my kingdom and everything to Sultan Osman and he will do the job’. And he sent him his messengers, he sent him his state treasury and he said, `This kingdom just disappeared now. You must rise’. And they rose and they continued.

They tried 19 times, the Crusaders. Salah-ad-Din Ayyubi stopped them so many times. But they were coming back. So the Mamluks were entering into the picture. Cerkez (Circassians) were soldiers, paid soldiers in Egypt and they took over the kingdom. And, when the Crusaders declared war again, the Mamluk Sultan said to them, `I am not Salah-ad-Din. I will not show any mercy. You come, I catch any one of you, I will not send you back. Salah-ad-Din Ayyubi is sending you back and you are coming back. I will cut everyone’s neck off.’ That’s what the Mamluks did. They came and the Mamluks crushed them down. It’s because the Crusaders were sending message to the Pope. From Qudus, the soldiers of the Westerners were sending message to the Pope saying, `We are stepping on the blood of the Muslims and we are walking.’ Their boots were filled with the blood of the Muslims whom they slaughtered there at that time. So the Mamluks got very upset, saying, `This time we will not show mercy’. And they did the same thing to them. And that almost stopped the Crusades again for a long time.

Then the Ottomans were becoming very powerful, hitting from every side, bringing end to empires. By the time it’s reaching to Sultan Mehmet Khan, he brought an end to two empires. Two empires. When he was 21 years old he conquered Istanbul. He died when he was 49 years of age. The Vatican declared celebration day non-stop for three days, saying, `The Big Eagle has died’. It’s because they were so scared that he was everywhere always, his soldiers and his spies were everywhere. Anyone who was betraying, before they turned left and right, their neck was going. Not like this now. It’s coming again. They think Islam is a game or Islam is to say, `Yes sir, No sir’. A passive religion.

That’s how it happened. They crushed them down and the Ottoman Khalifah is taking over. They took the Khilafat, the Ottomans. The Seljuks were not Khalifahs. They were under the ruling of the Khalifah. But the Ottomans also took the Khilafat with the Prophet’s (sws) order. The Prophet (sws) ordered Yavuz Sultan Selim to go to Egypt to take the Khilafat. And he came to Egypt, conquered Egypt. In Egypt at that time the Mamluks they tried to test to see what the Ottomans are going to do. Sultan Selim was sending message saying, `I am not like the Crusaders and I am not Salah-ad-Din and I am coming. If you don’t turn the power to me then I will not leave a single one of you living’. He said, `I am coming and I mean business.’

They said, `It’s impossible that he’s going to pass the desert. Before they knew, he passed the desert. They were all shocked. So they still wanted to test. They sent some armies outside to stop the Ottomans and Sultan Selim said, `Say to them, if they stand in front of us, I will not show mercy to them. They have to submit themselves.’ They submitted themselves and inside Egypt they all collapsed. Then he came to Damascus, taking over Damascus, ruling everywhere. Then the (Abbasi) Khalifah saw a dream that the Holy Prophet (sws) is saying to him, `Now pass the Khilafat to Selim’. And they were coming and passing all the secrets, with it all the belongings (of the Holy Prophet sws) that the Khalifah has to have. And since then they were holding it, the Khilafat and the kingdom together.

The power of Islam. Nothing else. Evet.

Someone asked: The Arc of the Covenant, was it with the Ottomans?

Sheykh Efendi: Where is it now? It’s passing through the Khalifahs. The Khalifahs know where it is. It’s specially protected. You cannot go there to touch it. Even if it is open you cannot touch. If it’s visible it becomes invisible. Special creatures are protecting that. There are so many secrets in there too.